Picking Technique

[baileyk85]

This is my first post here so if I commit some forum crime against God (I guess here that means Vai), please go easy on me!

Okay, I've been playing gutiar almost 2 years and my picking is alright. However I have ambition of one day being able to shred up the place at lightning speed whilst simultaniously reading a newspaper and ironing shirts. An odd dream eh?... but you have to set yourself goals!

Well I'm just wondering what kind of stuff I should be practicing. I do chormatic drills and go up and down scales but I'm sure theres gotta be other stuff to help me on my way.

And upon looking at good shredders, lets use Racer X man Paul Gilbert as an example for this one. At the speed he picks, I really don't see how its possible that he uses the same technique as he would slower picking. I can't trem pick close to his pace! Is it the same technique or is there some kind of shred trickery afoot? And if it is a stupidly fast normal picking motion, will steroids improve my performance?

Well these are some odd lines of inquiry but please bare with me... I'm mentally unstable.

[Jeff]

First of all...Vai != God (Vai does not equal God around here.)

Second, try some three/four note per string patterns. Jumping from string to string helps a lot, rather than playing up and down only one. And don't forget those string skipping exercises!

[Champagne Mist]

Originally Posted by baileyk85

Is it the same technique or is there some kind of shred trickery afoot?

No. There is no special trickery involved. Practice, practice, practice is what will get you results. None of these virtuoso guitarists became great overnight. Do scales up and down the fretboard, concentrating on downward picking, upward picking, and alternate picking. String skipping exercises are excellent.

When most people start learning guitar, they often concentrate on what the left hand is doing and never develop the strumming, picking skills that they should. If you can fret notes faster than SSV, but can't attack them with the pick, its useless.

[btweensunandmoon]

chomatic patterns are excellent as well three note per string exersises as stated above. Make sure you are putting some logic to these. An invaluable tool for this is and always will be the metronome. I dont know one guitarist who got blazing fast and incredibly accurate without using one. Make up nonsense patterns and set your metronome to a sensible beat to start with. Play sixteenth notes, triplets, and sixteenth note triplets making sure you....#1 cover all parts of the fretboard and #2 making sure you always accent the note that falls on the beat. I cant stress how important the stressing of that note is. Its a great technique for developing control. anyone can play fast but most lack great control. Most people wont use a metronome because they know they will be humbled. If you are serious about your playing, then go buy one. Picking is also dependent on both hands being in shape. I wont go into this but i'll refer you to a video that expands upon what i have talked about above. Its john petruccis rock discipline. Its without a doubt the best teaching tool for the guitar to ever be created. If it wasnt for that video (4 yrs ago), I'd still have problems playing "mary had a little lamb". If nothing else, you'll get to see john put Vai to shame by playing chomatic sixteenth note patterns at a jaw dropping tempo of 208 beats per minute and flawlessly at that. Hes quite possibly the most accurate and fastest guitarist to ever walk the planet (sorry vai).

[btweensunandmoon]

oh and one more thing. Yes, the same technique applies to slow picking as fast picking. thats why it takes years to get that kind of speed.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by btweensunandmoon

An invaluable tool for this is and always will be the metronome. I dont know one guitarist who got blazing fast and incredibly accurate without using one.

Suprisingly, Rusty Cooley. and while accuracy would be a tossup, he's definately got petrucci on speed.

I've heard great things about that vid, i really ought to grab a copy for this summer, after i graduate...

-Drew